Ptolemy in the Sky
by reminiscent-afterthought
Summary: Neither the dead nor the living can forget about tomorrow.
1. 1

**A/N:** Written for the Diversity Writing Challenge, d1 - poetry collection centred around a character or group of characters

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 **Ptolemy in the Sky  
** _1._

Even the dead can't forget about tomorrow.

They slumber in those small shadows where the light can't reach and they hope and they dream and they push their hope out like little particles of dust and eventually those bits of dust catch alight and they're fireflies instead, fireflies dancing on the face of the sun they call a war.

The ship is always gliding into war because that is why they built it, why it flies, why they gave it wings and why they now slumber in its confides. The ship is always gliding into war and they've painted its hull and stern and bow with blood and plugged its little corners with shadows that cry when they grow and smile when their thoughts go out into the world, aglow.

They're dead long ago but their shadows still exist in the corners no-one remembers to polish and no-one's small enough to walk except the dead which lose their shape and form but still possess their thoughts

And they're dead long ago but they have their hopes and dreams and wishes and when the light shines they can speak them all out to the world

And the light shines  
in the tomorrow they look for,  
in the tomorrow they can't ignore  
and can't forget.


	2. 2

**A/N:** Written for the Diversity Writing Challenge, d1 - poetry collection centred around a character or group of characters

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 **Ptolemy in the Sky  
** _2._

There are fireflies in the sky.

Beautiful fireflies.  
Bright fireflies  
and they're not red the colour of war but white: a blank slate within which they can write each other letters and read them and understand one another

The secret backstage where they can sneak away for a tryst or even a brief peck on the lips because the world's in chaos all around them and there's no time for tender romances: flowers and wine and a bed with silk sheets for their leisure

And instead there's blood and sweat and tears and the stale air of space they filter through and they can only hope the hull holds and doesn't crush them from the inside instead, because the shadows in the worlds are intangible and won't be able to hold them back at all…

But there are fireflies in the sky and the fireflies say they don't have to continue fighting after all. They say they can speak the same language, the language of the heart that no-one else can speak and it's a child bringing hands together and smiling all the while and it doesn't care it's getting blood on its hands or dirt or gunpowder because they can stop fighting long enough to hold hands

And stare at the fireflies in the sky.


	3. 3

**A/N:** Written for the Diversity Writing Challenge, d1 - poetry collection centred around a character or group of characters

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 **Ptolemy in the Sky  
** _3._

The fireflies aren't always white aboard their ship.

Sometimes they bleed black in pain and grief  
and punches that rain down on the sword who doesn't really know how to be a shield except as a sword

But that's okay, isn't it, because they're Celestial Being and they bear their sword at the world even if they are hated for it, and it's only fair they pay the price themselves, within themselves, as well

And sometimes the fireflies are blue when the battle fades away and the blood's all dried up and the people they've lost are burned out of their eyes and into their minds and otherwise forgotten because their bodies are turned into ash and even their names are wiped from the world

But some of them are luckier and their names are engraved into the world.

But the living are still there, and they can still watch the fireflies and paint them different colours, guide them to different scenes and one of them will be the future the fireflies search for and the dead search for as well

And they're the sun that shines in the sky and the fireflies flock towards.


	4. 4

**A/N:** Written for the Diversity Writing Challenge, d1 - poetry collection centred around a character or group of characters

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 **Ptolemy in the Sky  
** _4._

They stare at the fireflies and the way they flock to their ship.

That ship's no messiah that's come to save mankind; rather it's the hammer of Thor that's come down upon them and changed everything, risen the tides and reformed the world into a united force and dictatorship and then they bring their sword again and act the messiah that saves the very place they've condemned

But they're given too much and too little credit: they've always strived for one thing and that's a peace that can be found outside of bloodshed and they only spill what blood they need to in order to achieve that dream

But they've tossed the world into such chaos the fireflies slumber until they rise up and chase them instead

And then the fireflies are out and outlining that ship and they finally understand: understand what it is they've been working towards and how the reformation of the world appears

And now they stand at its helm, the right in the face of wrong and others flock to them, believe in them and they've become the messiah framed by light after all.


	5. 5

**A/N:** Written for the Diversity Writing Challenge, d1 - poetry collection centred around a character or group of characters

* * *

 **Ptolemy in the Sky  
** _5._

It's a warm light that embraces them and their dreams and all the things they've fought for together and all the things they've fought for apart and they know – they need to know – the things they fight for for their own reasons and not just as a part of some great ideal because they're only humans, they can't see those ideals or the whole picture of the world and what the ripples of their actions will bring…

And they know that when they became the hammer that came down upon and changed the world and they know that when they decide what is is they fight for themselves and then take up the handle of that hammer again, to be that hammer again so they can change the world again and this time change it in the right way

But they can't change the world without changing each other and they know that and they strive to change themselves so they can then change the world that they've twisted and turned and that has twisted and turned without them

And it's a warm light that embraces them and brings them together hand in hand like the children under the stars of space and they are the moon who smiles at all of them and is the first to offer up their hands.


End file.
